Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The advent of democracy in South Africa has brought about fundamental changes in the spheres of governance. One of these changes is the transformation of the public service. One of the constitutional imperatives of the country requires all government departments to be representative. The Department of Defence and in particular, the South African Navy (SA Navy) as part of the public service, is also expected to transform to ensure representivity. The SA Navy is not yet representative, specifically in terms of the African composition. The study seeks to establish the extent and knowledge of black youth about careers in the SA Navy. To achieve this, a questionnaire was circulated to various schools for completion. The findings indicate that black youth, specifically those from rural areas are unaware of the available career opportunities in the SA Navy. This could be a major cause of the current equity situation within the department. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

An exploratory study was undertaken to research the effect of hearing impairment on employment and socialisation of black hearing impaired persons and the role of social workers and job placement officers in supporting these hearing impaired persons in their work situation. The Council and Affiliates should disseminiate information on the effect of deafness on employment to the public and also embark on social work services to Deaf employees. Future socio-demographic data with a central register of interpreters and post-lingually hearing impaired employees should be embarked on by the Council as well as the effect of preparation of the hearing impaired for the open labour market and environmental barriers on their employment opportunities. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Work)

Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Penninsula University of Technology, 2005 / The construction industry contributes to the economy in terms of its labour intensive nature and status as a major employer of labour in many countries. This pivotal role is divided by its unappealing status ofbeing an industrial sector with the lowest level of employment of disabled persons. Despite the South African government's efforts to diversifY the industry's labour force, these have had little concrete effect on changing the demographics of construction especially relative to the representation of minority groups such as women and disabled persons. The industry presents both a challenging and hostile environment and attitudinal barrier for persons with disabilities. They have not been seen as part of the pool of people considered for employment, and when already employed, possible promotion. To change this negative image, conscious measures are necessary to remove barriers. These measures should include a change in leadership style and approach, fundamental change in culture, change in the negative image of the working environment, and full implementation of equal opportunity policies. This paper reports on the employment status of disabled persons within the construction industry. To achieve this, the qualitative methodology was adopted and included surveys, self-administered questionnaires and interviews as well as the quantitative methodology to validate the completeness of data

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Technikon, 1996. / Labour relations in South Africa is directly influenced by affirmative action in the work place, creating potential labour relations opportunities and threats within organisations. An investigation was done to ascertain the influence of affirmative action on labour relations. A comparative study of employer and trade union perceptions indicated a marked consensus between the two parties. The differences between the parties can be addressed by collective bargaining. A theoretical framework was developed, which demonstrated that worker participation and joint decision-making on affirmative action programmes should be regarded as essential for the success of these programmes. Shortcomings in current affirmative action programmes emanate from unilateral decision-making by management. A lack of legitimacy in affirmative action programmes results from non-consultation with trade unions. This has a detrimental effect on the credibility of affirmative action programmes and as a result no real employee development occurs. The labour relations climate is thus impaired. The research methodology included interviews (conducted with a number of academics, human resource managers and trade unionists) and postal questionnaires, which were completed by 231 managers (human resource and line managers) in both private and public organisations in the Western Cape.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The 2011 National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) adopted the concept of sustainable development towards decent work as a strategic objective of priority in the South African tourism industry (South African National Department of Tourism (SA.NDT), 2011a). The objective operates to address unfavourable aspects associated with work in tourism, and is relevant to tourism graduates as their susceptibility to decent work deficits contributes to a shortage of professionals with industry-related skills in the tourism industry. Over four years have passed since the SA.NDT declared priority interest on the decent work objective in 2011. Yet no noticeable progress has yet been made. This has raised a need to expand the knowledge base on decent work in tourism so as to retain skilled tourism professionals and sustainably develop the industry, as it is a priority sector for the country’s sustainable growth. The focus of this study was to establish tourism graduates’ perceptions (and experiences) of decent work in the tourism industry, as they are susceptible to decent work deficits and are abandoning the labour sector for which they created expectations and were highly trained. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, a qualitative research approach was adopted using a structured interview guide to collect primary data. The target population was limited to the 135 tourism graduates of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s BTech in Tourism Management programme, who completed their studies between the years 2010 and 2014. Stratified sampling and snowball sampling techniques were used to obtain a representative sample of 40 tourism graduates. Primary data were analysed using Leximancer software. The key findings of the study reveal the majority of the respondents surveyed to be mainly single females which reflect the population of the local tourism industry, of an average age of 27 years, and earning an average monthly salary of R7 007.35. In relation to historical race categories, Africans were the most noticeable compared to other races. The working career of the majority of these tourism graduates was on average four to five years before exiting the industry to pursue a different career. This was attributed to a predominance of precarious tourism work conditions and inaccessibility of decent work as tourism qualifications are apparently not valued in the tourism labour market. The findings underlined that work in tourism covers present financial needs and does not protect employees against possible future unemployment, illness, or old age. Tourism role players should collaborate to establish decent work focus areas as a step towards addressing unfavourable work conditions in the tourism industry. This should mitigate shortages of skilled tourism human resources. The study suggested eight decent work focus areas for addressing poor working conditions and sustainable development towards decent work in the South African tourism industry.

M.A. (Sociology) / The increasing deployment of clothing factories in the border industrial areas, has resulted in an increase in the demand for black female labour in this industry. This need, together with a sharp decline in the number of black male employees in the clothing industry, traditionally employed in all functional levels, forced employees to invest in black female labour on a large scale. It is practice to select first level supervisory staff from the higher operator levels, but a shortage of male workers in these positions created opportunities for black female operators to fulfil the need for supervisory staff. This however resulted in complications for both black women and employers, since factors emerged that could affect the black woman's achievement orientation. The objective of this research is to determine a job profile for the black woman in terms of her achievement orientation and also to investigate other variables that relate to her job profile and achievement orientation. Research conducted in this field on the European woman's achievement orientation, provided a framework for an explorative and qualitative research study on the achievement orientation of 15 non-supervisory and 15 supervisory black women. In order to gather sufficient information, interview guides were developed as an aid to conducting personal interviews with the sample group. A similar method was applied in investigating the attitude towards black female supervision, of 15 black male supervisors and 4 employers. From the case studies, three job profiles were distinguished namely a high achievement/high economical, a moderate achievement/moderate economical and a non-achievement/low economical orientated profile. For purposes of analysis the three profiles were reduced to two, namely an achievement/economical and a non-achievement/low economical orientated profile.

An overview of the literature indicates that there is a real and pressing need to explore the concept of adverse impact in more detail. The Employment Equity Act of 1998 prioritises the issue of group representivity in staff selection and although there are merits in enforcing an Affirmative Action policy, an objective assessment of the inherent requirements of job applicants is still a constitutional and procedural outcome. There is no simple mechanism that can be used to determine the manifestation of adverse impact. However, evidence thereof can be most useful in securing fairness in selection and employment decisions. There is a distinct need to examine the matter of adverse impact and its implications in the South African context. South Africa is confronted with a labour force that is growing dramatically and changing significantly. The demographic trends in our dynamically changing labour markets are likely to amplify skill and ability differences between the resulting contradictory goals of equal opportunity based on individual merit and equal employment results for subgroups of populations. Three selection strategies of a communications company were used as a basis for the assessment of adverse impact. The total population of the Call Centre selection strategy was 150. Seven instruments and measures were utilised in the study, namely, a job analysis, pre-screening exercise, psychometric ability tests, role-play simulation, structured interview, job compatibility questionnaire and a performance evaluation. The total population of the Operator Services selection strategy was 139. Five psychometric instruments were utilised in the study. The total population of the Female Leadership Development Programme selection strategy was 471. Three psychometric instruments were utilised in the study. The Adverse Impact Model was applied to each of the aforementioned strategies. In terms of the definition, adverse impact exists if the selection ratio associated with a particular passing score on a test for one sub-group of job applicants is less than 4/5th’s or 80% of the selection ration for the largest sub-group of applicants. 13 The results of the study indicate that adverse impact occurred in the following instances. In the Call Centre selection strategy, there was evidence of adverse impact in the racial analysis in the ability testing stage. There was also evidence of adverse impact in the gender analysis during this stage. There was no evidence of adverse impact in either the racial or gender analyses during the interview stage. There was no evidence of adverse impact in the racial analysis during the appointment stage. There was however evidence of adverse impact in the gender analysis during the appointment stage. The Female Leadership Development Programme selection strategy revealed evidence of adverse impact in the racial analysis during the appointment stage. The Operator Services selection strategy revealed an adverse impact in both the racial and gender analyses during the testing stage. The issue of adverse impact is obviously controversial. However, data obtained from this process will provide for informative analysis.

The number of women who choose to combine careers and traditional roles as mothers has been increasing steadily over the last number of years. As a result, the subjective wellbeing of these women has been the focus of many research projects over the last number of years. Subjective well-being has been defined in various ways by different authors. One definition describes subjective well-being as people's evaluations of their lives, which includes happiness, pleasant emotions, life satisfaction, and a relative absence of unpleasant moods and emotions. The current study, which took the form of a multiple case study, attempted to explore and describe White employed married mothers’ subjective experience of their well-being. The study also explored these women's experiences of combining the roles of employee and motherhood. The sample was obtained through the snowballing technique, and both qualitative (in-depth interviews) and quantitative techniques (two questionnaires - the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory) were utilized. The analysis of the data that was gathered was done by means of thematic and content analyses.

The principal objectives of this empirical study were to test the hypothesis that eduction is a major determinant of people's earnings differentials and to calculate private and social rates of return to education of blacks in South Africa excluding Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei. Basically, the data for working men and women used in the study were extracted from the 1985 current Population survey files comprising a sample representative of the black population. Lifetime earnings profiles are constructed from these data for five educational levels, namely, no schooling up to standard 1, standards 2 to 4, standards 5 to 7, standards 8 to 9 and standard 10. Schooling is assumed to account for 60% of the income differentials between these profiles, after adjustment for the differing probabilities of finding work of persons in specific age-education groups. Imputed average household outlays on schooling are taken as the private direct cost of education supplemented by estimates of per pupil spending by the various government departments responsible for black schooling for calculation of the social costs per year of primary and secondary schooling. Indirect cost in the form of imputed foregone earnings are included from standard 5 (age 15) onwards. The resulting private internal rates of return to education of males are about 16% at primary level and 24% for secondary schooling. Corresponding social rates of return are about 6% for primary and 15% for secondary education. The estimates for females indicate that between no schooling and standards 2 to 4 level, the private and social rates of return are -1% and -4% respectively, from standards 2 to 4 to standards 5 to 7 level, private returns of 12% and social returns of 4% are reported and for the remaining secondary school phases private returns of 32% and social returns of 15% are estimated. It is implied that black education is receiving minimal government financial assistance compared to those of the other population groups. The evidence of the results of the study indicates that; besides education, marital status, locational, regional and occupational variables also influence earnings differentials, the governments responsible for black education should emphasize human capital investment in relation to physical capital investment, on average more educated persons are better off than the less educated ones and with the exception of female early primary schooling, generally, it is worthwhile for an individual to undertake a certain educational programme investment